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Description

The concept of wishing on a star can be found from a number of different stories and myths. It was quite hard to pinpoint where the origins of wishing on a star came from, but here is a bit of research I found about it.

Legend has it that wishing upon a shooting star makes the wish come true. It is believed to have originated in Europe, when Greek astronomer Ptolemy, around AD 127-151, wrote that the Gods occasionally, out of curiosity, even boredom, peer down at the earth from between the spheres, and stars sometimes slip out of this gap, becoming visible as shooting or falling stars. Since the Gods are already looking at us at such a time, they tend to be more receptive to any wishes we make!
The Greeks, however, fathomed shooting stars to be rising or falling human souls, while Jews and Christians believed them to be fallen angels or demons. Aristophanes, a Greek playwrite, had a more fancy imagination. According to him, shooting stars were “souls of poor people, drunkenly walking home after they had dinner at a rich star.” Even contemporary culture is abound with superstitions related to shooting stars.
In Chile, for instance, when you spot a shooting star, you must pick up a stone in the same moment, while making a wish. If you’re in the Phillipines, you must tie a knot in your handkerchief instead.

Description

The concept of wishing on a star can be found from a number of different stories and myths. It was quite hard to pinpoint where the origins of wishing on a star came from, but here is a bit of research I found about it.

Legend has it that wishing upon a shooting star makes the wish come true. It is believed to have originated in Europe, when Greek astronomer Ptolemy, around AD 127-151, wrote that the Gods occasionally, out of curiosity, even boredom, peer down at the earth from between the spheres, and stars sometimes slip out of this gap, becoming visible as shooting or falling stars. Since the Gods are already looking at us at such a time, they tend to be more receptive to any wishes we make!
The Greeks, however, fathomed shooting stars to be rising or falling human souls, while Jews and Christians believed them to be fallen angels or demons. Aristophanes, a Greek playwrite, had a more fancy imagination. According to him, shooting stars were “souls of poor people, drunkenly walking home after they had dinner at a rich star.” Even contemporary culture is abound with superstitions related to shooting stars.
In Chile, for instance, when you spot a shooting star, you must pick up a stone in the same moment, while making a wish. If you’re in the Phillipines, you must tie a knot in your handkerchief instead.